A Partially Plagiarized Post about Pumpkin Bread

So some of this came from my sister.  In order to avoid plagiarizing and to add my own two cents, I’m using different fonts and colors.  My thoughts look like this: 

If it’s in this font and this color, it’s my sister Robyn’s story! 

The story of the pumpkin bread.
All of my life, my mom made pumpkin bread. My dad loved it, and we all loved it, but the ones who probably loved it most was Daddy and my youngest sister, Sandi. (That’s me!) A lot of people know Sandi, but not everyone knows that her real name is Saundra Jean. She was named after some really good friends of our parents, Saundra and Jean Scott. That is important later!

Mom made pumpkin bread for everything - when we were in school, she would make it for our teachers and we would take it to them wrapped in tin foil. In later years, Daddy became the "mixer". Mom would throw all the ingredients together and Daddy mixed it for her. I would call from time to time and get the recipe and make some (often for my boys to take to their teachers wrapped in foil), but I always jotted the recipe down, made it and threw the recipe away - I never wrote it in one of my recipe books.  I have never, ever made pumpkin bread in my life.  I just eat it.  My mom used to call me sometimes and say she had warm pumpkin bread – to come and get some. It would be warm with butter melted on it – fabulous!!!

When Mom went to heaven unexpectedly in May of 2001, it wasn't until the fall that Daddy and Sandi began to ask - how are we going to get our pumpkin bread? I searched to be sure that I didn't have it written down, and then I began to bake recipes I could find, trying to make it just like Mom's. I made many pumpkin breads for a couple of years - and although they were always good, they weren't just right.   They were always a little off. Sometimes the color wasn’t right, or the texture. My friend Mrs. Sharon makes pumpkin muffins that are pretty close. . .

When Daddy decided to sell their house and was cleaning it out he found an old cook book called "Glades Goodies" from the Pahokee Junior Woman's Club. Inside was written "For Betty, From Cecelia, Christmas 1968". The book just opened up to a worn out page that was stained and old - and there was the recipe for pumpkin bread. I still didn't get it right until I finally remembered that Mom always substituted the cinnamon and nutmeg with allspice - that was when it was "right".  Okay, here’s the weird thing – I knew about the allspice thing.  I have no idea what goes in pumpkin bread,  and I don’t even know what allspice is, but somehow, I knew Mama put it in pumpkin bread.  Since Daddy has joined Mom in heaven, it is Sandi that still always asks for pumpkin bread - usually for her birthday in October. Making pumpkin bread always makes the house smell like Mom's…....and brings back such happy memories- and - guess who submitted the recipe into this cook book? Saundra Scott!

My sister wrote this today, because she brought me pumpkin bread for my birthday.  Sometimes, when I eat it, it makes me cry.  I don’t love pumpkin spice everything – I don’t even particularly like pumpkin pie, but there’s something about pumpkin bread.  It’s a beautiful thing.

My Everything Tree

I have this tree in my living room.  It’s a skinny tree, fake of course, or it would be dead. . . It stands in the corner.  My sister got it for me several years ago for Christmas, but it's not a Christmas tree.  It’s my Year-Round Tree.
I saw it in a catalogue. In the catalogue, there were  kits you cold buy to decorate the tree for every month.   I thought that was  a neat idea, so my sister bought me a tree. 
I do change the decorations by the season.  Last Saturday, I put all my FSU stuff on it.  September starts college football so it gets my FSU decorations. 


In October, it gets bats and monsters.
In November, fall leaves and  Thanksgiving things.
In December, I put my special ornaments on it that might get lost in my big tree.  ( Or sometimes I make it my purple tree and only put purple stuff on it!)
In January, it’s gets snowflakes. (Yes I know, we live in Florida – pretend snowflakes on a tree are as good as it gets!) February, on go the Valentine hearts.  In March I sometimes do Easter and sometimes do spring.  April gets lambs and more spring.  May I usually just ignore and summer time gets flip-flops and sea shells.
But I have some special ornaments that stay on all the time.  They are my favorites. 
I have book ornaments, and old keys just because I love them.  I have a teacher ornament.


This one I got from my sister when we got her annual pass for Disney World. 


This is my Bubba cat. I miss him, even though he was mean and no one liked him except my Daddy and me.

This is my newest ornament. It’s my Feed the Birds ornament.  I love Mary Poppins and I got this at St. Paul’s Cathedral when we were in London last month. (It cost a little more than “tuppence.”)
 
This is my pearl S.  My friend Jennifer had a “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” themed birthday party and these told us where to sit. 


My sweet friend Ashley found this set in her Christmas stuff and gave them to me. It’s  a whole set of Dr. Seuss ornaments!


There are several ladybugs, because my Daddy called me “Bug” until the last time he talked to me.

This one may be the most special.  My Daddy told us for years that when it was time for him to go, to call Kersey’s and let them take care of him.  Kersey’s is our local funeral home.  They did a wonderful job taking care of all the stuff for us.  Every year, they have a memorial service for all the people that they have taken care of during the year.  They have ornaments made and decorate their own Christmas tree. The year  my Daddy passed away, we were all just too raw to attend the service.  It was in December after Daddy died in September.  A few days after the service, I got this in the mail. I don’t know why it came to me instead of Mrs. Betty, my daddy’s wife or even my sisters. But it hangs on my year round tree. 



I love my tree – and I love the stuff on it. Maybe you need a year round tree.

The Proms at Royal Albert Hall

Beautiful music in a beautiful space.

So today we went to Royal Albert Hall for The  Proms.  I have seen these on BBC and had no idea quite what it is. The Proms are a concert series in the summer.  They are mostly held at the Royal Albert Hall, although according to my research, some are held elsewhere.  “Proms” is short for “promenade concert,”  and comes from the practice in the past, of strolling through gardens while an orchestra plays. 

Today was a Ten Pieces Proms.  It’s a program designed to teach children about classical music.  Today, we heard these songs:

• No Place Like by Kerry Andrew
• Anthology of Fantastic Zoology – Sprite; A Bao A Qu by Mason Bates
• Symphony No. 1 in G major – Allegro (1st movement) by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges
• Rodeo - Hoe-Down by Aaron Copland
• Symphony No. 9 in E minor, 'From the New World’ – Largo (2nd movement) by Antonín Dvořák
• ‘Enigma’ Variations – Theme (Enigma), variations 11, 6 & 7 by Edward Elgar
• Carmina Burana - 'O fortuna' by Carl Orff
• Abdelazer – Rondeau by Henry Purcell
• Finlandia by Jean Sibelius
• The Nutcracker - Waltz of the Flowers and Russian Dance by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

I wish I could show you what a beautiful space Royal Albert Hall is. . . It’s simply breath-taking. It’s HUGE – it holds up to 5,272 seats and opened in 1871.  You wouldn’t believe all the people who have appeared there = every musical act you can imagine as well as important people.  From the Spice Girls to Muhammed Ali, everyone has been here it seems.  Classical musicians to sumo wrestlers to Cirque de Soleil, it’s amazing. 

There is a great interactive “map” here that shows you people who have appeared: http://appearing.royalalberthall.com/

So here are a few pictures I took today before it started.

B

A New Adventure

In January of 2007, I started a program called Project LEAD to become a media specialist.  To say that this changed my life is an understatement. I think I blogged about it before. . .

Part of that adventure involved  a 6 week stay in London in the summer of 2008.  One of our professors was teaching two classes that we needed in London in the summer.  I decided to go – I had never even stayed in a hotel room by myself before so flying to another continent was really out of my comfort zone. It was fabulous! I don’t even have enough words to say what a wonderful experience it was.  I started this blog during that trip – it was actually an assignment. 

I spent a weekend in Paris and a weekend in Scotland, saw the white cliffs of Dover and  walked through the home of CS Lewis.  We saw castles and cathedrals and buildings still showing damage from World War II. . . 

So, my professor has taught in London many times since then. I’m always fascinated when she goes and follow along on her journey through social media.   Before Christmas, my friend Harry (my professor’s husband) said  “We’re going to London again this summer – you should come!”  I thought I’d love to, but then just sort of let it go.  But it kept sticking in my head. 

So here, I am in a flat, in London, with Dr E, Harry and my sister. We are having a fabulous time.  A new adventure is here!

Summer Project 1 Done!

I sometimes have a problem finishing projects.  This year before school ended I had 3 projects going on at the same time. It makes my dining room table a mess but that’s sort of how my brain works.

My first summer homework was to fix my letter box. I need to explain. I have a slight obsession with bulletin board borders and bulletin board letters. I’ve taught for so long, when I first started, my school did not  have an Ellison machine. For those of you who don’t know, an Ellison machine is a letter cutter.  It’s not a Cricut or a Silhouette cutter by any stretch of the imagination.  It’s the most simple thing in the world: you put the paper under the die cut, pull the lever and it cuts your letter. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.  When I started teaching we didn’t have one. So, you had to trace and cut your own letters. . . It took a LONG time. I still have a tracing kit somewhere.

So I started buying letter sets.  Teacher stores and Hobby Lobby  sell letter sets. They usually have to be punched out but they come in cute patterns.  I have a huge weakness for bulletin board borders and letter sets. I almost can’t contain myself or stop buying them. I know – it’s a sickness. There’s just so many cute sets and I never know which set I might need.  Here are just  a few of my my sets: 

 

Several years ago, while my school resource deputy was teaching my class, I made little envelopes for all my letters, sorted them and stored them in a box.  It makes it really, really simple to find the ones I need.  My box looked like this:

And this:

I  made those envelopes at least 6 years ago but I think it was longer.  They were looking a little worse for wear.  And  I have so many sets, they wouldn’t all fit in one box. So, . . I found these great Ziploc type packets from Amazon. . . and found new boxes.  Here they all are. 

The new packets/envelopes are almost pencil case sized. The only thing is, my M’s and W’s are too tall and they won’t zip.  But it’s better. it’s much much better. I can check one thing off my summer “to do” list.    And now, I think I’ll work on another part of my to do list – naps!

My friend, Mr. Al.

Last Wednesday afternoon, I got a phone call that no one wants to get. My dear friend Susan Smith (known to most people who know me as “Mrs. Smith) called me to tell me that her husband Al had unexpectedly passed away.  To say that this shook me was a bit of an understatement.  I was and still am a mess.  I love words, but I’m not even sure I can find the right words to tell you about my friend Mr. Al.

In 1994, I started as a full time 6th grade Social Studies teacher at Westwood Middle School.  At that time, we were on teams – a group of teachers all taught the same kids and those students rotated between them.  I was the Social Studies teacher and a woman named Susan Smith was the Science teacher on my team.  Who knew that she would end up being one of my dearest, closest friends?

We found out through that year and many more how much we have in common. We were born on the same day – October 15.  Different years of course, but we shared a birthday.  We both are horrible losers, and ridiculously competitive.  Neither one us believes in doing something the easy way, if there’s a hard way.  We spent many, many nights together alone on our hallway.  We walked to the car together many, many nights. The day she left school on her last year, I didn’t think I would be able to teach without her. I’ve only felt so lost a few other times in my life. 

When you spend that much time with a person, you meet their spouse. I don’t have any recollection of meeting Mr. Al for the first time.  We probably ate together.  Since 1994, we’ve eaten many meals together.  Mrs. Smith always laughs and says Mr. Al and I have the same palate.  We both are not particularly fond of many vegetables and both have a tendency to eat the same thing at the same restaurants.

We have eaten countless meals together, been to the movies many,  many times, and watched hours and hours of college football together.  When I found out I was accepted at FSU, I went running down the hallway to tell Mrs. Smith first. I was in her room when I called my sisters!  It was a Wednesday, so I had church, but the next night, Mr. Al and Mrs. Smith took me to dinner. Mr. Al said “they” had a present for me. It was my little library, and my very first FSU anything.  You see, they both got their Bachelor’s degrees at USF (just like me)  but then Mr.. Al went to Law School at FSU.  He was very excited that I was going to be a Seminole.  Mrs. Smith was with me at school all day, so “they” was really him. I used to tell him he should teach husband lessons – he was the sweetest, sweetest man.

Mrs. Smith and Mr. Al got married the same year I was born. Age-wise, they could have been my parents and in some ways, they acted in that capacity.  They were at my graduation from FSU.

I called Mrs. Smith first when my mother passed away.  We had our Mom’s funeral on Monday,  and on Tuesday, I left to go to the beach where Mrs. Smith was staying.  She fed me, listened to me and cried with me. When I left, I was better. I wasn’t OK yet, but I was better.  I’ve house  - and dog-sat for them 100 times.  We’ve had long conversations about any number of topics. We didn’t always agree and we’ve had some very loud discussions. We’ve spent Christmases, Thanksgivings, and birthdays together.  My daddy, my nephews and Mr. Al – some of  my most favorite men in the whole world. 

 

We’ve spent so much time together. It’s been a little more difficult lately, because I’m still working Mrs. Smith has retired and Mr. Al has cut back a LOT on his work hours. I am irritated with myself for letting time slip away.  .  .

Here’s what I know about Mr. Al..  He would  be your biggest cheerleader, but he didn't hesitate to tell you if you were being stupid.   He loved Mrs. Smith, their boys, and the girls that his boys loved.  He loved golf,  tennis , FSU and the law.  And for whatever reason, Al Smith loved me – and I’m  better for it. 

In the musical Wicked, one of my favorite songs is “For Good.”  Part of the lyrics go like this:

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime.
So, let me say before we part:
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you.
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart.
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have rewritten mine
By being my friend.

Who can say if I've been changed for the better
But because I knew you.
I have been changed for good.

Al Smith left handprints all over the hearts of everyone who knew him.  And because we knew him, our lives are better. 

Banana Puddin’

I don’t cook a lot. I don’t have a signature recipe.  My friend Chris makes a bacon-wrapped meatloaf that is apparently incredible! I've seen it, but I’ve never eaten it.  He’s known for that meatloaf.  My sister is a great cook. She makes the best biscuits I’ve ever eaten.  My friend Donna Moody makes lemon blossoms – these little  2 bite size cookie things that are just fabulous. I know other people that everything they make is just wonderful – my friends Kathy R, and Debbie C and Sharon D.  I’m not that good at anything. 

However, once upon a time I made my sister Robyn’s recipe for banana puddin’.  Yes, it’s  puddin’ not pudding. . . At a school where I once worked,  we had a “cooking contest” and I made Robyn’s banana puddin.  I won.  The person in charge had to give me the first place prize and she wasn’t happy about it.  This banana puddin’ ROCKS!  There is French vanilla pudding involved and heavy whipping cream and whole milk and cool whip and a few other things.  It’s so thick and creamy, you can’t POUR the pudding, you have to scoop it.  It’s pretty good, even if I do say so myself. 

So, the day I won that cooking contest, I had leftovers. I took  the bowl to church for my AWANA leaders. They loved it – which was very satisfying. They bring goodies quite often, and I simply can’t do enough for them, so it made me happy when they liked it.  I felt like Sally Field – “ They like it, they really, really like it!”

On Monday, my sweet friend Mrs. Dawn’s husband went home to be with Jesus.  She’s beside herself, as you can probably imagine.  Her friend, her husband, her sweetie – is gone away from her.  She’s got an empty spot inside.  

I had to go to Publix yesterday so I called another friend who I knew would be with her. I asked her what Mrs. Dawn needed.  You know that in the South, when someone passes away, we bring food. My friend Mrs. Turner is from New Jersey and she doesn’t get that.  She asked me once “What’s up with you people? The day my mother died, there were people knocking on my door with food.”  But, that’s what we do!   She didn’t need food, but she did need some plastic cups!

I asked Mrs. Debbie if there was anything Mrs. Dawn needed or wanted.  Mrs. Dawn told Mrs. Debbie she didn’t need anything but she sure would like  some of my banana pudding.   

So tonight, I made a banana puddin’ and delivered it to my friend Mrs. Dawn.  It’s not a  big deal  - she’s already gotten lots of stuff from other people.  It’s not going to keep her company in the night when she turns over and her husband isn’t there.  It won’t make having to go the funeral home and get through the next few days any easier.  But she smiled when I took it to her and she enjoyed it while she ate some of it.  For a minute, she smiled and ate banana puddin’.  And that, my friend Mrs. Turner is why we do it.